What Could've Been
by Hey-Diddle-Diddle25
Summary: Hondo was gone, off selling the credits they all had earned- probably in some seedy bar getting drunk off his rocker. That seemed ample enough for rest of the crew. As far as they were concerned, they got the generators and won. Chopper just knew how close that came to not being true.


In the end, everything had managed to work itself out.

Ezra was now debt free, perhaps even earning a new friend, though Chopper suspected that if they ever did run back into the space pirate it wouldn't be under friendly circumstances. After all, a war wasn't enough to erase those sort of instincts from anyone- much less someone who had been doing it probably before they could walk.

Not that it mattered all that much. Hondo was gone, off selling the credits they all had earned probably in some seedy bar getting drunk off his rocker. That seemed ample enough for rest of the crew. As far as they were concerned, they got the generators and won.

Chopper just knew how close that came to not being true.

Unlike anybody else, he had been there when Ezra had bargained too far, had accidently sold himself for the sake of a mission he hadn't ever truly been part of.

Hondo had been overjoyed, probably having grown a very fond feeling towards Ezra. Chopper wasn't as confused by that then he had been when Hera and Kanan had started looking at the filthy loth-rat they had picked up accidently with nothing sort of affection because he's had a chance to live with Ezra. He's seen the kid at his best and his worst and it didn't matter what anyone thought or said, he's grown accommodated to that.

Then Ezra had opened his stupid mouth and had said too much, bargained his very self for a couple of generators for a rebellion they had just become aware of.

That was when Chopper realized they might have gotten carried away.

Hondo was either oblivious or he didn't care as he commanded Chopper away, demanding drinks because as far as he was concerned he had won. He had managed to convince Ezra to join him and nothing inside the boy would've even tried getting out of it.

If things had turned out differently then he probably would've sent Chopper away with the generators, back to the crew and the _GHOST_ while he stayed back and played pirate Jedi with someone who would eventually get them both killed.

It had already almost happened once.

But then they found Vizago and everything happened so fast.

Chopper remembered encouraging for Ezra to help the thief, some part of him calculating that that would be enough to break Ezra from his other deal and free him so he could come back with him whenever it all ended. A gamble but one he had been willing to take.

It turned to work in their favor.

Hondo had ended up betraying them, stealing their ship, but that was fine. Chopper had set it on autopilot so he would have to deal with the crew when he returned with a whole box of credits but no Ezra or Chopper.

Chopper kind of wished he could've seen it.

Alas, by the time they had managed to get back to the ship Hondo had all but talked himself out of the crew's anger. Not that it mattered, Hondo gave them the generators and freed Ezra from his promise of joining him- probably too scared to incur the wrath of the crew by trying to steal from them a member they've all grown accustomed to.

That, it seemed, was the end of that.

They got the generators without any real costs. Happy endings all around but Chopper knew better- distracted by what could've been. By what was so close to happening and he wasn't sure they'd be able to fight the Empire knowing Ezra was out somewhere battling for his life.

Chopper had no doubts they would quit the rebellion, even Kanan who it seemed was his only strive in life- to stop the Empire and their tyranny- but Chopper knew he would refuse in favor of searching for his missing padawan. He already hated playing as other people's tools, taking somebody else's orders and Chopper gambled losing anyone in his crew would be enough to finally pull him from what seemed to be his main drive since they've met.

"There you are," Ezra's youthful voice chimed, drawing the robot from his thoughts as he spun to whir at the boy.

Ezra held his hands up in a defensive gesture as he reassured with a slight chuckled, "Whoa. Slow down there. I didn't mean to sneak up on you. Hera just sent me to find you. She says she needs to see you up in the cockpit."

Chopper responded with the whirs and clicks understandable only to a few. As unfortunate as it was, Ezra happened to fall into that few.

"I don't know what she needs," Ezra replied as he cocked his head and puckered up his face, "Why does it matter? Do you really want to keep her waiting?"

Chopper didn't really have a problem with doing just that, having been around the woman long enough to have grown an immunity to her wrath. After all, it wasn't like she was able to remain mad at any one of them for very long (except for Kanan and Zeb that one time they sold him in a bet, which had been a hilarious sort of vengeance).

Chopper whirred again causing Ezra to blink in surprise as he managed to force his message across. Ezra glanced around him swiftly before kneeling down in front of the droid, hand resting bravely against his top.

"You're not really planning on telling her that?" Ezra asked, voice not frightened as much as it was just concerned over the fact that Chopper was more than capable of telling the rest of the crew to just how close they had been to downgrading a member.

Chopper responded, rather despondently, that he couldn't really do that. Not when he knew just how crushing that thought would be to any of them, or how it would change their whole dynamic. They wouldn't be able to look at Ezra without thinking how close they had been of losing him over the sake of a mission.

Ezra smiled, bright with relief as his eyes seemed to twinkle slightly. His hand moved back and forth in a comforting stroking motion.

"Thanks," he finally said after what felt like forever, "and let's keep that little tidbit of information to ourselves."

Chopper grumbled, shaking Ezra's hands off from him but he agreed nevertheless as he moved past the youth to exit the room and find Hera as she continued basking in their victory. And he'd let her have it, pushing away his own memories of what happened, of what could've happened as he silently celebrated not the fact that they conveniently found generators but that they hadn't lost anyone in the process.

Silently he swore that he'd do everything in his power to keep it that way.


End file.
